I have tried to foster a good work ethic to my two grown sons by example. They saw me using all kinds of tools to build additions to my houses, build decks, build sheds, work on automobiles. They learned all the carpentry, mechanical, electrical and plumbing work involved. They got used to using all types of tools when helping me. But I let them chose their own educational career paths. My oldest son went toward law and he is now a federal judge. My youngest went toward biotech and he now works for a biotech company in facilities engineering.
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I have known this for a long time but here is the AI Google version of it.
This statement is generally considered true; research suggests that languages spoken by larger communities tend to have simpler grammatical structures, as the need for clear communication among a diverse group of people drives the evolution of a more systematic and accessible language.
Explanation:
- Pressure for clarity:
In larger communities, with more people interacting, there’s a greater pressure for language to be easily understood by everyone, leading to simplification of grammar and vocabulary.
- Variation reduction:
When many people use a language, inconsistencies and dialect variations tend to be smoothed out, resulting in a more standardized and simplified form.
- Learning efficiency:
A simpler language is easier for new members of the community to learn and acquire.
However, it’s important to consider:
- Complexity can still exist:
While larger communities may have simpler overall grammar, specific domains within a language (like technical jargon) can still be quite complex.
- Other factors at play:
Language complexity can also be influenced by factors like the community’s history, cultural practices, and contact with other languages.
I have commented before on the two tier educational system the US is headed for: where states hand out vouchers, in amounts considerably below the current funding level for public schools. The parents that have a few thousand dollars, per child, per year, can use the voucher subsidy to pay for private school. The parents who do not have those thousands of extra dollars send their spawn to horribly underfunded schools, and receive the equivalent of South African “bantu education”.
Expand that to the entire USian economy. People who have the money, enroll in “concierge” services who import skilled people, who were educated abroad, on someone else’s dime, to perform the work they need. The Proles who do not have the money for the private, concierge service, have no access to competent auto mechanics, or plumbers, or roofers, or medical care.
Steve
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I think public schools in much of the US do a better job than you imply. Urban schools have some problems due to aging high maintenance physical plant, poverty, and declining tax income based on property taxes.
Rural schools have the problem of declining enrollment. They do ok on the three Rs, but STEM and foreign languages are a challenge. And keeping up with new technology and changing needs has to be a constant concern.
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I’m a product of small town public schools, and a second tier state university.
But results have nothing to do with it. It’s the narrative. “Woke indoctrination”, and “school choice” are the current narratives, but certain factions have been trying to destroy the NEA for decades. The sure way to destroy the NEA is to destroy their base by destroying the public school systems. Then add on the narrative that the “supply siders” have been promoting for forty years, that it’s OK to throw your neighbor under the bus, if it gets you a tax cut, to destroy the consensus for publicly funded services.
The high school I went to, in Kalamazoo, has a historical marker in front of it. The marker celebrates a court case that decided that government could tax people to support a public school system. The “supply siders” want to overturn that principle, rather than pay tax to educate other people’s spawn.
This is that marker.
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Does this mean the UK is not “many people”?
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Means the UK is fewer people than the US.
Meanwhile Ireland is known for using the English language better than the English because Ireland again has fewer people.
People in a village develop their own richer sub-communications.
Public education is one of the govt services constantly under discussion, never perfect. Rarely good enough. Wokism is the latest concern. Certainly not the only one.
In Missouri home schooling has doubled in the last 10 years. From 1 in 30 to 1 in 16. Why? Maybe Covid reaction. Or maybe concerns about book banning, teaching LGBT and/or critical race theory in schools. Maybe rising cost of parochial schools (the traditional alternative to public schools here). Maybe simply racism.
It seems clear that parents are dissatisfied with public schools and more think they can do a better job teaching their children.
How much of that parental “dissatisfaction” is due to certain “thought leaders” howling about teaching that LBGT people deserve equal rights, or that slavery was not a nice thing to do?
The first big push for public funding for religious schools, styled as “prociaid” in Michigan, was coincident with the racial integration of the public schools. I remember the news reporting on rioting by working class white people in South Boston, over their schools being integrated. Race is certainly part of it.
Then there is the ideology that everything be rationed by ability to pay. If a family is too poor to pay out of pocket for their spawn’s education, ideology says the spawn should not be educated.
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In Missouri, public support for parochial schools masquerades under the name “vouchers.”. It is one way to address the problem of rising costs.
We do have racism deeply embedded in our society. I can’t imagine opposition to teaching about Civil War and slavery. But it can be over done. Critical race theory goes too far.
In my area discrimination in housing is no more but prices tend to exclude minorities. The net effect is similar. Closing the wealth divide should help but that will take decades. Low income housing is strongly opposed in my area.
As to outspoken loud mouths, i read there are organizations that encourage opposition to Critical Race Theory and gay rights especially transgender in schools. They see this as a fertile way to promote conservative values.
Not sure what can be done about it. Parents can do home schooling or send children to private schools. Educating voters is probably best we can hope for.
100%
Whose kidding who?
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They will be very unhappy if they make THAT claim.
I own those slaves. If they can NOT buy themselves out of their choice (i.e., pay me enough to release them from their self-imposed slavery), then they remain slaves forever.
“In Missouri home schooling has doubled in the last 10 years”
Do you know anybody that home schools ? I do not, so I’m trying to wrap my head around your average Mom, with no teaching background, taking the place of trained Math,Science, Language,…you name it… teachers. I think the Mom ( or Dad ) probably works off of a curriculum from some type of source. And I’m sure there are a few of these parents who are absolute motivated geniuses at teaching their kids. But I find it far-fetched that is the majority of the situations. Teaching is Hard. I really doubt that these stay at home parents match up well in comparison to actual teachers.
And then there is the Social aspect of going to school. Kids learn how to get along with other kids outside the view of teachers. And sometimes they learn how to stand up to bullies, and how to physically back bullies off of them. This is all important stuff, and it’s just scratching the surface of what is learned in a school setting.
I’m also sure that there are poor traditional schools. Ironically, what is deemed to be lacking is that the parents of the underperforming students take no role in communicating to their kids how important education is going to be to them later in their life, and motivating their kids to put a huge effort into school. So parents have a huge role to play in their kids education, but lopping off the teachers and taking over their job is a real stretch.
So I’m of the opinion that Betsy Devos and that ilk are driving toward a home school or voucher for charter school system to line their own pockets, and to indoctrinate kids with their views. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.
But America is gonna go down this path, almost certainly.
We’ll be seeing in due time.
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Yes, i do know people who homeschool. And if you know First Robotics, they have home schooled teams.
One in 30 home schooled is about 3.33%. One in 16 is a bit more than 6%.
Yes, home schooling is real in Missouri. I think the teen i knew who was home schooled got reading assignments from her mother who had a career and worked. Presumably they met in the evening and discussed progress and future assignments. Not for everyone but very possible for some.
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I know 3 families. One was our daughter until this school year. The other 2 are our neighbors.
There is quite a network for home schoolers. They have field trips and plan educational outings as groups. The share teaching tasks and materials.
The home schoolers here also attend some school district activities. They participate in band and sports.
As for how well they are taught I don’t know the national scores, but my grandchildren are ahead of their peers after returning back to the school system.
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I agree, but would offer that parental involvement is key no matter the schooling.
My daughter and I talk about all of her public school subjects. I’m pleasantly surprised by the depth of her government class. She knows more about civics than probably 80% of the adult population. Heck, as an engaged 9th grader, she’s more qualified than most current cabinet nominees.
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Something not taught below the college level…
I.e., the discrimination happens in earning power…
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On critical race theory, yes, I understand that it is not part of high school curriculum. But it does get lots of news attention and is often mentioned when people discuss book bans and school board elections.
Yes, its financial discrimination based on earnings and assets that determines who can live in best neighborhoods often with best schools and low crime rates.
It’s another boogyman, like “common core”. Of course a faction that has been using racist dog whistles, like “community schools” (segregated schools), for decades, does not want an open discussion of racism.
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